The Ontario-native became an unrestricted free agent this summer and was interested in extending his playing career. However, he’s known for a while, in part because of the lockout, that he might have played in his last NHL game.

“I’ve got one foot in the grave and one foot on the ice with the casket slowly creaking to a close,” Brunette told the Star Tribune in November.

Brunette will now move to the next phase of his career in hockey by serving as a hockey operations advisor for the Minnesota Wild.

“I talked to a couple teams [about working for them], but I came to the decision my heart was in Minnesota,” Brunette said. “It just made sense to be here.”

In his new role, he will help Wild GM Chuck Fletcher in a number of different areas, including prospect evaluation and development, signing free agents, and scouting.